Explanation
In this example, the goal is to increase the prices shown in column C by the percentages shown in column D. For example, given the original price of $70.00, and an increase of 10%, the result should be $77.00. The general formula for this calculation, where “x” is the new price, is:
x=old*(1+percentage)
x=70*(1+10%)
x=70*1.10
x=77.00
Converting this to an Excel formula with cell references, the formula in E5 becomes:
=C5*(1+D5)
=70*(1+0.1)
=70*1.10
=77.00
As the formula is copied down, the formula returns a new price for each item in the table, based on the percentages shown in column D.
Negative percentages
Negative percentages will have the effect of decreasing the original price. For example, with -10% in cell D5 (-0.10), the formula evaluates like this:
=C5*(1+D5)
=70*(1+-0.1)
=70*0.9
=63.00
This example explains the general formula for increasing a number by a given percentage.
Formatting percentages in Excel
In mathematics, a percentage is a number expressed as a fraction of 100. For example, 95% is read as “Ninety-five percent” and is equivalent to 95/100 or 0.95. Accordingly, the values in column D are decimal values, with the Percentage number format applied.
Explanation
In this example, the objective is to calculate a percentage for each goal shown in column C of the table using the actual values in column D. In other words, given a goal of 100000, and an actual amount of 112000, we want to return 112% as the result. The general formula for this calculation, where “x” is the percentage achieved is:
x=actual/goal
x=112000/100000
x=1.12
Converting this to an Excel formula with cell references, the formula in E5 becomes:
=D5/C5
=112000/100000
=1.12
=112%
As the formula is copied down, the formula returns a decimal number for each city in the list. When these numbers are formatted with the Percentage number format , they are displayed as percentages.
Formatting percentages in Excel
In mathematics, a percentage is a number expressed as a fraction of 100. For example, 25% is read as “Twenty-five percent” and is equivalent to 25/100 or 0.25. Accordingly, the values in column E are decimal values , with the Percentage number format applied.
Negative goal
If you have a negative goal, the formula above won’t calculate correctly. In this case, you can calculate the variance as explained here , then add the variance to 100% to get the percent of goal:
=(actual-goal)/ABS(goal)+100%
